Opium, incest, blackmail, seduction and love through the eyes of Chen Kaige Two years after graduating from the Beijing Film School, Chen Kaige released his debut film Yellow Land (1984). Despite the fact that it was not widely distributed, for many ordinary viewers, Chinese cinema was strictly associated with martial arts, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, yet Yellow Earth found a response from critics of several film festivals, especially success was waiting for the tape in Locarno, where it received two awards at once. Between 1986 and 1991, Chen Kaige made three more films, but they mostly went unnoticed. But in 1992, the year in the career of the director will be a radical change: the drama “Goodbye, my concubine” will make many talk about the emergence of a new talented and original director from China. Kaige will try to consolidate his status four years later with the drama “Seductress Moon” (sometimes you can hear the translation of “Seductress-Moon”, but this does not change the essence at all).
For his sixth feature-length film, Chen Kaige will use the book by Aniya Wang, which he himself in the company of Kei Shu, winner of the Berlin Film Festival in 1990, will adapt to the production. We must be prepared for the fact that “The Moon-Seductress” is still a film close to arthouse, and Chinese arthas is an exotic business and not everyone will do such a movie. The beginning of the film tells about a strange relationship in the circle of one family, where the father deliberately succumbs to smoking opium, and then his son and daughter have what is called incest. Of course, such a beginning can be shocking and only a principled viewer will find the strength to continue watching. By the way, this fragment with opium seems to envelop the entire film – this method was chosen by the operator of the picture by Australian Christopher Doyle, who is personally familiar to me from memorable works in the films “The Quiet American” (2001 and this film is clearly an unrecognized masterpiece), “Cage for Rabbits” (2002) and “Limit of Control” (2008), where Doyle collaborates with Phillip Noyce and Jim Jarmusch.
So it turns out that a slightly blurred picture, floating, as if you find under the influence of decently accepted on the chest, plus the shocking background of the film can collectively discourage many, many viewers from viewing. However, Chen Kaige’s talent for originality is clearly manifested here, he makes the picture “Seductive Moon” such that it still attracts attention to itself with something, a special aura exists in the film. In fact, Chen Kaige is betting on deeply dramatic circumstances when a brother and sister meet again, which the events of that distant day changed forever. Each has chosen his own path, trying to forget the deeds of the past, but the shadows of the past, as if the demons remind themselves again and again, trying to destroy the delicate balance built by such great efforts. It is a bit difficult to follow all this, yet Chinese cinema is exclusive, not everyone likes it, and here also all the signs of arthouse, whose connoisseurs are not so much, but still you can get acquainted with the “Seductive Moon” at least in order to discover new aspects of cinema.
What Chen Kaige is famous for is for making his actors play to the limit, without falsehood and at the same time without creating stereotyped images. This can be seen in the “Seductress Moon” in all its glory. The main male role went to actor Leslie Chun, who was already familiar with Kaige when he played in his film Goodbye, My Concubine. Unfortunately, this talented actor committed suicide at the age of 46. But his great abilities were fully revealed in the “Seductress Moon”, where he played a very ambiguous hero, for whom you can simultaneously feel pity and anger, and disgust and empathy. In this picture, Leslie Chun will change several times before our eyes in character and behavior, and then we can assess the scale of his figure and significance for the Seductive Moon. There is one of the best Chinese actresses of her generation, Gong Li, whose beauty is impossible not to admire. In addition, Gong Lee shows his graceful ability to play deeply dramatic roles. And the wonderful company of Chunu with Li will be actress He Caifei, who will show herself from a great side.
Honestly, the style of shooting, which was selected by the operator of "Seductive Moon" Christopher Doyle did not quite like me, there was a feeling of slight intoxication, but it should be added that not every operator managed to achieve this effect, we can say that here this is one of the original characteristics of the film that distinguish it. Some details about the characters caused confusion, if not shock. Because of this, I can’t admire the purely subjective perception of the film. But the acting of Leslie Chun, Gong Li and He Caifei on the other hand makes “The Moon...” attractive. Plus, this film is a confirmation of the undeniable talent of Chen Kaige, one of China’s most influential directors. After weighing everything, I make the following assessment:
7 out of 10